Turning the page

Using your finger to swipe to the next screen is somehow not the same as turning the page to keep reading an exciting story. There is something about the feel of the paper between the fingers and the actual flipping of the page that engages the reader with the written word in a different way than how it works electronically. At least, that's true for me and perhaps those of my generation who still love the library as much for the books as for DVDs.

During semester break of my freshman year in college I wrote a Dear John letter to my boyfriend back in Buffalo. I wrote paragraphs about the big snow storm and then made him turn the page before getting to the reason for the letter. I still feel bad about it, but have read of instances where fiancés get dumped via tweet. When I bought my new car two weeks ago, there were several documents where I had to turn the paper over to make sure I signed or initialed in all of the right places to ensure a legal transaction. 

As I write this, it is a day where symbolically we turn the page in a big way. It is a New Year. As anxious as I have been to put 2016 behind me, I turn the page with mixed feelings. It was a year when I was really lucky. On January 29th, I had my first ambulance ride after I walked into a glass wall, fell backwards and dislocated a finger as its tendon popped up through my palm. On June 17th, I was told I had cancer which they removed on September 30th. In some sense I will never turn the page on those events. I have scars, will probably get arthritis in my hand and need to be monitored for reoccurrences of the disease. My landlord put her building on the market and I had to move from a home I'd not been in very long. I found a much nicer place in a lovely neighborhood, so, I recognize all those hard things could have turned out so much worse.

But, as challenging and unusual as my year was, it pales in comparison to what others in various circles of my life experienced. I have two colleagues whose fathers died very suddenly on the same day. I know people who knew a bystander who was shot in this violent year in Chicago, so while I, as they say, dodged a bullet several times, hundreds did not. Thousands of people have lost their jobs or access to vital services here in Illinois because of the egos of two powerful men. A friend is losing her father to Parkinson's. A relative, diagnosed with Stage 0 cancer for which we gave thanks, is now undergoing radiation and chemo because of the results of new tests. The national malaise that Jimmy Carter mentioned in 1979, something that he was criticized for, has returned.

There's a saying that goes something like there comes a day when it feels good to turn the page because you realize there is so much more to the book than the page you are stuck on. It's the first Monday morning in 2017 and there is so much more to life than the things that defined you and me in 2016. Whatever you have thought about trying to do differently or better this year, I'm going to ask you to consider one more thing based on my learnings from last year. I was reminded how much we need each other. Yes, a certain part of the bad and the good that life throws at us we must handle on our own. We are able to do so because of our faith, if we have one, our philosophy and outlook, and because of our connections to one another. I am encouraging you, before you really turn the page on the past year, to reach out to one person each day this week and thank them for something they did that helped you get through 2016. That's seven people or one person who did seven small things or all sorts of combinations of people in your life at tiny or big moments. Tell them how they made it possible for you to turn the page and face what today and this year brings.

Marilyn